Exhibit of battlefield objects opening at Mashantucket Pequot Museum

Published 3:08 am, Thursday, September 29, 2016

Rolled brass conical point carried and used by the Wangunk of the middle Connecticut River valley, allies of the English.

Rolled brass conical point carried and used by the Wangunk of the middle Connecticut River valley, allies of the English.

Photo: Photo Courtesy Of Mashantucket Pequot Museum

Image 2 of 2

An engraving of the Battle of Mistick showing the shape of the fort.

An engraving of the Battle of Mistick showing the shape of the fort.

Photo: Contributed

Exhibit of battlefield objects opening at Mashantucket Pequot Museum

1 / 2

Back to Gallery

MASHANTUCKET >> If you look down from the tower at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, you’ll see the museum below is shaped like the concave Pequot fort, site of the infamous “Mystic Massacre” of May 26, 1637, which was one of the most critical events in early American history.

On Saturday, the museum will unveil the largest collection of 17th-century battlefield artifacts on display in New England in its new Pequot War Exhibit, opening in the museum’s Pequot War Gallery. The exhibit, the culmination of a seven-year archeology and preservation project, will showcase more than 50 recently recovered objects from the Battle of Mistick Fort (a bloodbath prompted by previous skirmishes and murders).

Visitors will be introduced to the exhibit through a Pequot narrative of the events surrounding the battle. On display are never-before-seen military and personal items carried by native warriors and Colonial soldiers on the day of battle — amulets, knives, ornaments, hair pieces and jewelry, as well as European hand-hammered gun parts and musical instruments recovered from the battlefield.